Groundhogs at Terabithia
by MadTom
Summary: BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA 2007 fanfic. The morning after the end of the movie, Jesse Aarons gets a call from music teacher Miss Edmonds inviting him to go to a museum with her and he sees Leslie's parents' car in front of their house! Was it all a dream?
1. Chapter 1

GROUNDHOGS AT TERABITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

* * *

PREFACE

Please feel free to scroll down past this preface to Chapter 1 if I seem too long-winded. You _will_ want to scroll back up and reread it later, however!

Standard disclaimer, I do not own the characters and am not using them for profit. They belong to Katherine Paterson and David Paterson, Walt Disney Pictures, Walden Media etc.

As a school psychologist, I'm supposed to be able to help kids cope with the realities of death and get them through the grieving process. I may actually use the 2007 movie version of _Bridge to Terabithia_ to do that once it comes out on DVD.

That having been said, there is way too much tragedy and misery in the world as it is, and I still have a soft spot for happy endings, and many of my early creative writings of childhood were fanfics (even before the term was invented) rewriting the endings of kids angst stories. I agree that there are some stories with tragic endings that are best left alone. James Michener's Korean War novella _The Bridges at Toko-Ri_, for example (and another "Bridge" story whose film version was extremely faithful to the written work) ended with the hero, a US Navy fighter pilot, being shot down over enemy territory, two of his friends flying a rescue helicopter getting shot down and killed trying to get him out, and then the hero getting surrounded by enemy troops in a ditch and shot to death. Hollywood reportedly wanted a happier ending in which he is rescued, but William Holden, who was cast as the hero and actually had a brother who was killed in action as a Navy fighter pilot, refused to agree with that compromise, and he was right in my opinion. I'd have a lot of trouble, even if paid to do so, rewriting a happier ending to _The Bridges at Toko-Ri_ where another helicopter comes in, guns down all the enemy troops and snatches the hero from the jaws of death. (Apparently Stephen Coonts, on the other hand, didn't; he then changed the setting to the next war after Korea, changed the characters' names and called it _Flight of the Intruder_!)

I know that talking about a Korean War shoot 'em up as a prelude to a Children's Classic story fanfic seems rambling and irrelevant, but you'll catch the connection if you stay with the story! Again feel free to scroll down to Chapter 1.

_Bridge to Terabithia_ is different, and something compels me to write this. Leslie Burke is just too sweet and lovable a character (especially as portrayed by Annasophia Robb) to stay dead, even though her real-life inspiration obviously and sadly is, and I mean absolutely no disrespect to that young lady's memory. But Leslie herself is still a fictional character and still fair game in the Kingdom of Fanfiction.

Canonically, this is something derived from both the original novel and the movie. I favor the movie, but the DVD isn't out yet, so I have to refer to the novel for some of the dialogue and chronology, and to fill in some gaps in the movie. I've also decided to stay with the book on Leslie dying on the Thursday of Easter week instead of on a Saturday as the dialogue flows better that way. But since the Music teacher's name is spelled "Edmunds" in the book and "Edmonds" on the movie credits, I'm spelling it per the movie credits.

I'm giving this a PG-13 rating; if anyone out there thinks a preteen boy and girl innocently skinnydipping together in an Eden-like woods is child porn, then not only did Henry Bellamann write child porn that became a national bestseller in 1940, but Ronald Reagan starred in the film version of it! In fact the alternate title of this fanfic, _King of Terabithia's Row_, is both a reference to a big disturbance in Jesse's life (a row as in rhyming with "cow") and a play on the title of said Henry Bellamann novel/Ronald Reagan movie.

One last comment for the benefit of Katherine Paterson: Yes, I know that "Banzai" means "May you live ten thousand years," but once upon a time where I was born, yelling it could get you shot, blown up, or decapitated by a bolo knife:-P

* * *

GROUNDHOGS AT TEREBITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

CHAPTER 1

"Jess, it's your girlfriend!" May Belle said. "I called you three times!"

He couldn't believe he was hearing this! After making her the new Princess of Terabithia, she had the nerve to tease him about Leslie. No, come to think about it, the last time May Belle referred to his "girlfriend" calling, it was Miss Edmonds. He screwed up his face as he took the phone. _I know Miss Edmonds is still worried about me. So are all the other teachers. But why would she call me before school?_ "Hello?"

"Hi, Jesse!" Miss Edmonds chirped cheerily, "Listen, I was supposed to take my nephews to the National Gallery today, but my sister had a change in plans, so I've got tickets I'm not using. I thought you might want to come."

He squinted again. "Miss Edmonds, thanks. I know you're trying to make me feel better after everything, but we can't both play hooky just for that, can we?"

He heard her laugh. "Play hooky? Jesse, I know you're eager to get back to school, but we still have today, tomorrow and the whole weekend before Spring Break's over! Don't go short-changing us!"

He raised his eyebrows and gasped.

"Jesse, you still there?"

"Yes, Miss Edmonds."

"You should ask your folks first. I'll wait while you ask."

"Okay."

He put down the phone and stepped over to his parents' bedroom in a daze. _What the heck is going on? What kind of game is Miss Edmonds playing?_ But he knew she would never do anything harmful, so he decided to play along with it.

"Momma," he said, again in a tone to keep from waking her fully, "I don't know why, but Miss Edmonds wants to take me to the museum again. Okay?"

His mother again mumbled something incoherent without moving out from under the covers.

"Miss Edmonds?" he returned to the phone, "My mom says okay."

"Great, Jesse! I'll be there in a few minutes!"

He hung up, still in a daze. _Why would Miss Edmonds play a game like this? Pretending it was last week, the day Leslie died, wanting to take me to the museum again?_ And then it hit him, and he raged. _It _wasn't _Miss Edmonds! Just someone who's good at imitating her voice, playing a mean trick on me! Who? _Janice! _Janice or one of her friends or a relative! After the trick Leslie and I played on her, forging that love note from Willard Hughes, this would be the perfect payback! Janice and her friends will probably pull up in a car and start teasing me about Leslie and Miss Edmonds. The truce with Janice is over. Well, I'll be ready for them!... But how the heck did they know that Miss Edmonds took me to the museum that day? I never told anybody and I don't think she would have!_

But it was time to get ready for the school bus anyway. He finished dressing and pulled his backpack on, and stepped out the door, all the while planning how to react when Janice and her friends drove by. _"Ha! Ha! I knew it was you all long, Janice!" wouldn't do. Gotta be something classic. Got nothing to slime their car with. No pie to throw in her face..._

And then as he walked down the driveway, something made him freeze in his tracks.

It was Leslie's parents' Mercedes. Sitting in front of their house like it usually did up until yesterday.

_Did they forget something? Mr. Burke sure sounded like they were never coming back when they left yesterday. It sounded like goodbye forever._

He stared, remaining frozen, puzzled and confused. He didn't know how long he stood there, thinking maybe he should knock on the door and say hi, ask why they were back. Then the sound of a vehicle turning into the driveway caught his attention. Actually coming down the driveway, he saw from the corner of his eye, so not the school bus. He tensed up, not having a ready response for Janice and her crew.

The vehicle pulled right up to him, the front bumper only a foot or so to his left. But he still didn't turn his head away from the Burkes' house. Or their car. Not even when the driver's door opened on the other car.

"Jesse?"

He glanced over. It was Miss Edmonds after all! In her old familiar maroon Volvo station wagon, the same one that he'd carried her boxes of instruments to and from, and in which he'd ridden with her to the Museum last Thursday, the day Leslie died. That brought back the first question: What kind of game was she playing? And did the Burkes' car being back have anything to do with it?

"What's with the backpack?" Miss Edmonds continued with a little laugh. "This _is_ a learning trip, but it's not really schoolwork!"

He nodded absently.

"Earth to Jesse! Earth to Jesse!" Miss Edmonds said. "You did hear me when I reminded you on the phone a few minutes ago that we still have four days of Spring Break left!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Edmonds," he again glanced at her and returned his attention to the Burkes' house. "I just wasn't sure about..." His voice trailed off.

"Wasn't sure about what?" she said after a while, then smiled knowingly. "Would you like me to invite Leslie too? I'd love to have her along! I have more tickets."

That snapped him out of it, and he faced her, a little angry now, his eyes starting to sting with tears. "Miss Edmonds, I wasn't trying to be a smartass last Friday at the wake, when I said we should bring Leslie the next time. It was just wishful thinking."

Miss Edmonds shook her head and squinted at him. "Last Friday? Wake? Next time? Jesse what are you talking about? I didn't even see you last Friday. It was Good Friday, school was already out."

His eyes opened wide. If this was some kind of game, she was playing it really well. He noticed that she was even wearing the exact same clothing she wore the day Leslie died, right down to the small hole in her stocking just above her right ankle. _Could it be? Was this past week all just a bad dream? No, I thought my folks telling me Leslie was killed was a dream and it _wasn't!

"Come on," Miss Edmonds continued to smile as she shut the car door and stepped toward the Burkes' house. "I'll ask Leslie and her parents myself!"

His confusion and apprehension increased as he stepped behind her. Then he noticed something that made it even more confusing: the stack of lumber that he'd used to build the rails and planks to the tree bridge was as it had been before he'd taken from it.

She rang the doorbell, and as Jesse stepped up on the stoop beside her, Mr. Burke opened the door.

"Good morning, Mr. Burke! I'm Miss Edmonds, the Music teacher."

"Oh, yes!" he smiled back. "I remember you from Back-to-School Night!" He turned to Jesse, who was amazed that he made no mention of the wake. "How're ya doing, Jess?" he continued with the same cheerfulness. "Both of you, please come in!"

The living room was the same as it had always been, as if nothing had happened. At Jesse's entrance, Prince Terrian bounded up to him and placed his front paws against Jesse's shin. He absently scratched the dog behind his ears, a dog he'd never expected to see again.

"Mr. Burke, I had tickets to take my nephews to the National Gallery at the Smithsonian," Miss Edmonds explained, "but something else came up with my sister and her family, so I thought I'd invite Leslie and Jesse to come instead."

"Sure, why not?" Mr. Burke nodded with a continued smile. "I've heard there've been a lot of changes since the last time we took her there. She's still asleep, but I'll get her up. Just 'cause school's out for the week, doesn't give her an excuse to sleep her life away!"

He disappeared into the hallway and Jesse heard him call out cheerfully, "Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Wake up! You've got company!"

Jesse didn't know what to expect next, and felt the knot in his guts getting tighter. If this was a game, it was a very elaborate game and both Miss Edmonds and Leslie's dad were in on it. Were they both mocking him for his earlier denial over Leslie's death? It was a more cruel game than anything Janice could have come up with.

And then there she was in the living room!

She looked half asleep, her hair was tousled and uncombed, and she was wearing a yellow robe that didn't quite make it down to her knees. Prince Terrian immediately shifted his attention from Jesse's leg to those of his mistress, licking her toes, and she immediately giggled at the tickling. She would have looked particularly cute to Jesse even if she hadn't-- at least in his mind-- just come back from the dead.

"Leslie!" he gasped, then pitched into her with his arms tightly around her. That woke her up the rest of the way.

"Hey, Jess!" she hugged him back.

She was real! He felt her softness and warmth in his arms, smelled the scent of shampoo and conditioner in her hair. The whole week had been a nightmare, but it was literally just a nightmare, and it was over!

"Hey, it's not like you didn't just see me ten hours ago!" Leslie giggled, and Jesse was suddenly aware of the mix of amusement and surprise on both her father's and Miss Edmonds' faces. He separated from her but didn't feel embarrassed about it. He didn't care. He had his Leslie back!

"Hi, Miss Edmonds!" Leslie smiled, "What brings you here?"

"She wants to take both of us to the National Gallery in Washington," Jesse interjected quickly. "_Please_ say you'll come!"

"Well, today I wanted to..." Leslie started, then saw Jesse continuing to plead with his eyes, an unspoken but desperate, actually frightened plea. "Sure!" she smiled. "Give me a few minutes to get dressed and eat a little breakfast."

"We can stop for breakfast on the way," Miss Edmonds told her. "My treat!"

* * *

**Comments and reviews are invited. **

**Any questions? If you scrolled past the Prologue and have questions, you might want to scroll back up and reread it before asking.**

**I should be posting the chapters in fairly rapid order,as the story is almost finished at this point.**


	2. Chapter 2

GROUNDHOGS AT TERABITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

* * *

CHAPTER 2

He left his backpack on the Burkes' doorstep, and then got in the back seat of the Volvo. "You can ride shotgun, Leslie!" he told her.

He'd experienced deja vu a few times in the past, and this was definitely something much more. Once they got past the ramp on the freeway which was the farthest from home he'd ever been before the day Leslie "died", it was all clearly familiar. He even recognized some of the same vehicles on the road going in the opposite direction, but earlier on the trip than he'd remembered. _Of course, they would pass by earlier; we started late because we got Leslie._

Miss Edmonds herself was chatting up a storm on pretty much the same subjects, only this time it was Leslie who did most of the responding. Jesse was perfectly content to ride in the back seat and say very little. He'd had his day sitting up front alone with Miss Edmonds and it ended in a way more horrific that he could have imagined. This time around-- and it was still "this time around" to him-- he was perfectly happy just being in the car with his two favorite people in the whole world.

His feelings for both were different now. Miss Edmonds was still the very much adored teacher, still one of his favorite people, but his crush was gone. And Leslie... Just watching the back of Leslie's head, her hair, the curves of her cheek and neck and shoulders, listening to her voice as she and Miss Edmonds bonded and made "girl talk", was enough to make his eyes tear up.

They pulled off at an exit and had breakfast at a Pancake House, the first major deviation from the "first time" other than Leslie being there. Throughout the meal, Jesse continued to let the two females dominate the conversation. When the check came, Miss Edmonds noted that she needed change for the tip and told them that she'd be right back. It was the first time all morning that Jesse was alone with Leslie. He looked at her, then slowly slid his hand along the tabletop toward hers, just wanting a brief touch.

"You okay, Jess?"

"Yeah! I'm fine," he smiled, his hand stopping in place. "Better than fine!"

"You sure aren't acting the way I would've expected!" Leslie grinned. "Just the two of us with Miss Edmonds, I thought you'd be a lot chattier!"

_I can't tell her! She'll think I'm nuts!_ "Let's... Let's just say I've kinda sorta been there, done that."

"Really? When?"

"A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," he laughed nervously. It felt that distant now, but yet at the same time even more real than sitting here with Leslie very much alive.

She grabbed him by the wrist. Her soft, warm hand was just the touch he needed to prove she was real. "Have you been visiting some other kingdom besides Terabithia?" she asked with a mock accusitory tone.

"More like I got kidnapped and dragged off to one."

"Oh! Like an alien abduction!"

"Something like that," he nodded.

"As long as it wasn't voluntary!" she smiled. "The King still owes loyalty to his Queen and their subjects."

"Believe me, I'd never volunteer for something like that!" He paused, then added, "And the King of Terabithia would never ever be disloyal to his Queen!"

Leslie smiled, shook her head and then stroked the back of his hand.

The sense of unreality returned as the drive resumed. The rest of the route, the Washington Mall, the entrance to the National Gallery were all as he remembered them from the "first time". When the admissions desk stamped the backs of their tickets and handed them back, he looked at the date: April 16. He really was back in time, living that day over, and he'd fixed it! Leslie was there with them.

She was a lot more excitable at the displays than he thought she would be, but then again, her dad had pointed out that there were a lot of changes since she'd been there last. Several times, she would see an interesting display and grab him by the hand and pull him ahead, leaving Miss Edmonds figuratively eating their dust.

"I should've worn sneakers!" Miss Edmonds said breathlessly after catching up the third time. "I forgot I was taking the two fastest kids in Fifth Grade!"

* * *

The sun had been out a while when they returned to the Volvo, so that Miss Edmonds had to turn on the air conditioner as they drove off. Jesse remembered it getting sunnier and warmer the "first time", but not the air conditioner. Then he remembered that they'd parked in the shade the first time.

"So. You two have a good time?"

"The best!" Leslie smiled back. "Thanks for inviting us, Miss Edmonds!"

"Yeah! Thanks, Miss Edmonds," he echoed.

"It was my pleasure! Listen, don't let this go to your heads, but I can't think of any other student in the whole school who would have appreciated this as much as you two."

"Because we're geeks!" Leslie laughed, and Jesse laughed with her.

"You two are _not_ geeks!" Miss Edmonds said, laughing as well. "At least if you are, then so was I when I was your age!"

"No way!" Jesse and Leslie chorused.

"Leslie, I've met a lot of kids in the few years I've been teaching, but I've never met a girl who reminded me of myself as a girl as much as you do." She paused before continuing. "Something of an outcast, only one or two close friends... only I escaped into my music, and you escape by writing stories."

It was just like the sunlight suddenly breaking through the clouds and into the stained glass window in church. Jesse saw it now: he'd been in love with Miss Edmonds because she was a grown up Leslie! The woman Leslie was going to become-- if this really was real and she was really going to live and grow up.

"And you have so much more talent than I did!" Miss Edmonds went on. "Both of you... you have so much promise. I see brilliant futures for both of you.

"You really think so?" Leslie asked.

"Just keep up your writing, Leslie. And Jesse, keep up your drawing and painting. You'll both find your niche."

"I will, Miss Edmonds," Leslie smiled, then looked back over her shoulder. "Hey, Jess, maybe I'll write books and you'll illustrate 'em."

"Sure!" he replied, fighting back the tears.

"_The Kingdom of Terabithia_," Leslie pronounced. "Written by Leslie Burke. Illustrated by Jesse Aarons." Jesse exaggerated his smile as a tear ran down each cheek, trying not to make any sound and hoping neither of them would notice.

"The Kingdom of Tera- what?" Miss Edmonds asked.

"Nothing!" Leslie said quickly, shooting an apologetic glance at Jesse for spilling their secret. "Just a name I made up."

"Well, if there's a story behind that, I want to read it someday!"

"It's a work in progress. Right, Jess?" Leslie winked at him.

"Right," Jesse nodded as the tears continued to drip.

"Then I'll be looking for it in a few years," Miss Edmonds said.

There were a few minutes of silence, then Leslie spoke up. "Miss Edmonds, may I ask you a personal question?"

"You may ask. Whether or not I answer depends on how personal it is."

"You said you had only one or two close friends growing up. What happened to them?... I mean, are you still friends with them?"

"That I'll be glad to answer," Miss Edmonds said. Sitting directly behind her, Jesse couldn't see her face, but could sense a longing in her voice. "I had only one or two close friends at a time. I guess I've had four over my lifetime. Betty Jean was my best friend up through Sixth Grade. Then she moved up to this small town near Albany, New York. We wrote each other a few times the first two years or so, and then lost touch. Then right after college, I was on a trip up to that area and decided to look her up. Her folks still lived in that town and told me how to find her in Buffalo, and we picked up right where we left off, as if the last ten years had never passed. And now we E-Mail each other a couple of times a month and exchange Christmas cards... After Betty Jean moved, Josie became my best friend. But we drifted apart during high school and then she got pregnant and dropped out in Eleventh Grade. She moved in with the baby's father, and he and I never liked each other, so that pretty much ended our friendship. Meredith was my best friend in college, we roomed together the last two years, and we're still friends."

"You ever have any guy friends?" Leslie asked while shooting an affectionate smile back toward Jesse.

"I was just getting to that. Brad's a very special friend. We were a little older than you two guys when he moved to my home town. Eighth Grade. He was into music, too, but he also got me interested in creative writing and literature, and we kind of discovered computers together."

"You said he _is_ a very special friend," Leslie noted. "So you're still friends?"

"More than friends, really."

"So he's your boyfriend," Leslie prodded further.

"Even more than that. Brad and I are soul mates. We grew up and saw each other through a lot of tough times together, and we're going through some tough times right now."

"You don't think of him like a _brother_, do you?" Leslie wrinkled her nose, and then quickly added, "If you don't mind my asking."

"No," Miss Edmonds laughed. "I have two brothers, and I _definitely_ don't think of Brad in that way! Like I said, we're soul mates."

If Jesse had been made aware of this the "first time around", he would have been burning with jealousy. But now he was glad to hear it. Not just because he was happy for Miss Edmonds, but again it gave his own feelings a new frame of reference: he had _four_ sisters, and _he_ definitely didn't think of Leslie in that way. He now realized that he never did and was glad of it.

"Soul mates," Leslie nodded. "So you gonna marry him?"

"Well, he still hasn't given me a ring yet, and we have a few things we have to work out first. When it was time for college, I went to Georgetown and he got accepted to Annapolis, so we were able to keep seeing each other. But now he's serving out his time in the Navy. He's an electronic countermeasures officer on the missile frigate USS _Savo Island_-- which he says is the techno-geekiest job you can have and still be on board a US Navy warship, by the way!" They all laughed. Miss Edmonds continued, "The _Savo Island's_ home port is Norfolk, so we see each other whenever he's home. But right now he's out in the Indian Ocean near the Persian Gulf. He still has at least another year to go, maybe more depending on how the war goes. Then we have to decide if he gets out and settles down with me, or if he makes a career of the Navy and I have to quit my job at Lark Creek, and follow him around the world and keep changing jobs, or if we just continue our long-distance relationship. They won't be easy decisions for either of us, but hey! When you've found your soul mate, making sacrifices for each other is part of the relationship."

Leslie reached back through the gap between the front seats, smiling as she stroked Jesse's hand.

* * *

Of course, instead of a bunch of police vehicles, it was still just the Mercedes in front of the Burke home when they got back. As Leslie and Jesse got out, Mrs. Burke stepped out the front door and waved at Miss Edmonds, then made a twirling motion with her finger. Miss Edmonds lowered her window.

"Thanks again for taking them, Candy!" Mrs. Burke called.

"My pleasure, Judy!" Miss Edmonds called back.

"Did Leslie behave herself? Sorry I can't speak for Jesse!" Mrs. Burke laughed.

"They were both perfect angels. Other than the fact that I should have worn sneakers to keep up with them. Or roller blades!"

"Want to come in for tea or coffee? Iced if you like, since it's gotten so much warmer."

"Thanks! I'd love some!" Miss Edmonds shut off the engine and got out of the Volvo.

"Jesse," Mrs. Burke said, "I brought your backpack inside. There was a really bad thunderstorm while you were out."

"Thanks, Mrs. Burke!"

"We'll be back for it later, Mom!" Leslie told her. She waited until her mother and Miss Edmonds had disappeared inside the house, then smiled at Jesse. "Jesse Aarons, were you actually crying on the drive home?"

"Yes, but it was happy crying," he smiled back.

"Over a trip to the museum? I know it was your first, but--"

"I'm just happy we were together."

"We're together all the time! As a matter of fact, I'm surprised you didn't try to talk Miss Edmonds into going without me!"

He snapped his head toward her, his jaw hanging open, goosebumps breaking out all over him. He stayed that way for several seconds.

"Earth to Jesse!" she said, waving her hand before his eyes. "Man, that must've been one heck of an alien abduction!"

He blinked. "Yeah, it was!"

"Well, I know just the thing to bring you back to Earth," she grinned. "We've got a lot of daylight left. Race you to Terabithia! READYSETGO!" She took off like a jackrabbit while he trotted behind her. "Last one to the rope is Osama Bin Laden!" she called back over her shoulder.

_The rope! _"Leslie! No! Wait!" he screamed, then kicked into a sprint. She'd already opened her lead to a good ten or twelve feet.

"Nuh, uh! It was a fair start!" she laughed.

"I'm not kidding! Stop!"

"Nice try, Aarons!" she giggled.

"Leslie!" he started a scream that turned into a wheeze. He realized he needed his wind to catch up. If he could.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**The USS _Savo Island_, the ship on which Miss Edmonds' boyfriend is an officer, is fictional; many modern-day US Navy guided missile frigates have the same names as now-decommissioned/scrapped World War II/Korean War-era aircraft carriers, and reference my comments in the Preface, USS _Savo Island_ is also the name of the fictional carrier in _The Bridges at Toko-Ri_. This may not be the last reference to that novel/movie. ;-)**

**Thanks for the reviews so far. Keep 'em coming!**


	3. Chapter 3

GROUNDHOGS AT TERABITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

* * *

CHAPTER 3

The nightmare was back on again! He kicked and pumped, his heart and lungs bursting as he slowly narrowed the gap. He'd closed to about five feet as they reached the end of the road and started across the cow pasture, and then started losing ground again. His body was going at full capacity and failing him. Once they were in the woods, he was a little more sure-footed than she was and started gaining again.

Then he saw the rope dangling from the tree branch ahead of them and heard the rushing waters of the stream, and the horror of that spectre gave him one last burst of adrenalin. He made one final leap, screaming "Dammit, Leslie! You're gonna die!" as she stretched her hands forward toward the rope.

"What?" she gasped, faltering just enough for Jesse to fly past her and snatch the rope as her fingertips came within three inches of it.

He held the rope firmly and placed himself between it and her. He was numb, and now that they had stopped, was starting to hyperventilate, and she was staring at him as if he was a total stranger. Neither spoke for nearly a minute, until their breathing started returning to normal.

"Congratulations, Aarons!" Leslie spoke first. "You finally beat me! Had to use a cheap trick, but you finally beat me! Okay, I'll admit I cheated a little too..."

"It wasn't a trick, Leslie!"

"Telling me I'm gonna die? That is so not funny! And when did _you_ start swearing?"

"Leslie, if you try to swing across, the rope's gonna break, and you're gonna hit your head and drown!"

"Check the soles of your sneakers, Jess! 'Cause we just ran through a cattle pasture, and something sure smells like BS to me!" She stepped toward him and started reaching for the rope. "And since _you're_ the bigger cheater, I think I should _still_ get to go first!"

"No!" He kept his grip on the rope with his left hand and slapped her knuckles with his right. She stepped back in shock and disbelief.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, Leslie," he said with tears in his eyes and his voice, "but I love you and I don't want you to die again! I got you back this morning and I can't lose you again!"

"Huh?"

Jesse tugged on the rope with both hands. It went taut with no give. He yanked harder a couple of more times with the same results while Leslie stared at him, obviously convinced he was crazy. Then with a loud grunt, he jumped up and grabbed the rope about three feet above the upper knot and pulled his feet up to that knot.

The rope broke with a resounding THWUP! exactly where it had the first time. As Leslie squealed, Jesse landed on his butt and slid a couple of feet down the embankment while the frayed other end of the rope snapped back and downward toward him. It glanced off the underbrush just below where his feet had stopped, then slid into the rushing water. Jesse kicked the underbrush aside to see what had stopped him; he had an idea but wanted to be sure and to show Leslie: it was a large rock, the exposed portion of which was about the size of a manhole cover.

"Oh, my gosh!" Leslie breathed. "Jesse, how did you know?"

Jesse slid himself up off the embankment, then rolled over onto his hands and knees and started to push himself back up on his feet, but his arms and legs turned to rubber. He collapsed, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. Leslie sat on the ground next to him.

"Jesse, what is going on?"

"You died, Leslie!" he sobbed. "I _did_ go with Miss Edmonds to the museum without you, and when I got home, the rope had broken and you had drowned."

She stroked his hair and neck. "What are you talking about? I'm alive and I'm right here, and I've been with you and Miss Edmonds all day..." Her eyebrows raised. "Is... Is this the alien abduction thing?"

He nodded tearfully. "Actually, more like Eliza Dushku in that TV show _Tru Calling_. Except that I rewound a whole week instead of one day."

"No TV in my house, remember?" she managed to smile.

He thought for a second. "Like _Groundhog Day_!" She saw that movie, just a month ago in school when all the students took the state literacy test in the morning for a week and then relaxed by watching DVDs the rest of the day. "_Groundhog Day_, except that I've backed up a whole week instead of one day, and so far this is the first day of the first repeat..." That jogged another memory. "Leslie, let's move down the stream a little. That other tree over there's gonna fall over sometime in the next three days, and I don't know when any more exactly than that."

Leslie looked at the rock, at the rope half in the water and swirling around in the current, and the frayed remainder hanging from the overhead branch. "Okay," she nodded.

She helped him stand, and they started walking along the bank downstream. She put her arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. He was still shaking and sobbing.

"It's okay, it's over," she said softly. After they took a few more steps, she asked, "Are we far enough away now?"

He nodded.

She stopped, then stepped in front of him and hugged him tight. He felt her trembling as well. "You just saved my life, Jess! Thank you!"

He squeezed her, blotting his tears in her hair for several seconds. She started sniffling, and he felt her tears warm and wet on the side of his neck. Then Leslie moved her head back and looked into his eyes, and then they kissed. It was warm and soft, and sweeter than Jesse ever thought possible.

He kissed her a couple of more times. Then he took her hand and led her further along the stream to another fallen tree where they sat on the trunk. They kissed one more time, continuing to hold hands. Then he sniffled and said, "I love you, Leslie. I'm sorry I never said it before today! The first time around I never got a chance to say it. I love you."

"It doesn't matter now that you didn't say it the first time. I'm here and you've told me. And I love you, too, Jesse. You knew that, didn't you?"

"Kinda," he nodded. "Your dad told me."

Leslie screwed up her face. "He did? When?"

"At your wake."

Leslie shuddered. "Now _that_ is creepy! I did tell Dad once that I love you, that you're the only real friend I've ever had, but I never expected him..."

"How do you think _I_ feel? You don't remember it, I guess even your dad doesn't remember it, but it was real to _me_!"

"My wake, huh?" she grimaced. "Was I there, laid out in a coffin?"

"They cremated you. I think right after they did the autopsy, so I never actually saw you dead. Then your folks took your ashes to your family's plot up north, then they came back and moved out. A week from now. And then I went to sleep, and when I woke up it was this morning again."

"So that's why you hugged me so tight this morning."

He nodded. "_You_ may have just seen me ten hours earlier, but to me, you'd been dead and gone a week, turned to ashes, and I thought I'd never see you again ever!"

"Well, I'm here, and you've saved my life, and I'm not planning on going anywhere." She smiled at him. "Let _me_ be the one to tell you this time around: I... love... you,... Jesse Aarons!"

They kissed again and then they hugged tight.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Thanks for the reviews so far. Keep 'em coming! Getting lots of hits but not as much feedback.**


	4. Chapter 4

GROUNDHOGS AT TERABITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

* * *

CHAPTER 4

Other than the fact that the sun was lower but it was still relatively light, they had no perspective of how long they'd held each other before they finally both stopped shaking.

"So my parents had me cremated?" she spoke first.

"Do you really wanna hear this, Leslie?"

She nodded. "If this is so vivid to you, there has to be a reason for it. I don't know how I feel about being cremated."

"Yeah, they cremated you and they held the wake at your house the day after you drowned-- tomorrow!... Your Grandma Burke was there and told me that you'd told her so much about me..."

"Yeah, I have!"

"And Miss Edmonds was there, and Mrs. Myers... That's when your dad said, 'You know she loved you.' Then he hugged me." He sniffled and let a tear run down his cheek.

"My dad hugged you?" she managed a chuckle. "He's a really friendly guy, but he's not all that touchy-feely!"

"It was real, Leslie! Nobody but me remembers, but--"

"Hey, I believe you! The rope did break and the rock was there, exactly the way you said!"

Jesse continued the vivid details as an experience, not a dream, up to Monday at school when her desk had already been removed when the kids got there.

"You can tell me the rest later," she said, holding up her hand. "It _is_ getting too creepy!" She glanced across the creek, which was much wider and deeper at this point, with the water not as fast or noisy." She pulled off her hoodie and set it on the ground, then reached down and untied her high-tops. "I need to go to the Castle. I guess now the only way into Terabithia is to wade or swim."

Jesse gasped. "Leslie, NO! Are you crazy? You're tempting fate!"

"We've beaten the Dark Master, Jess!" she announced loudly. She started unlacing and pulling off her high-tops, peeling off her socks and stuffing them inside. "It's time to show him who rules Terabithia!"

"This isn't make-believe now!"

"I know, Jess!" she nodded. Her voice was calmer and less childish. "It's like getting right back on a horse after you've been thrown. The water's a lot calmer here. Even though it's deeper and wider than up where the rope was, it's still not over our heads. And if anything happens to me, you'll be here to give me mouth-to-mouth, right?" she grinned, then gave him a quick kiss. "I started working up a sweat after that run anyway, and I need to cool off."

"We're gonna run around the rest of the afternoon with our clothes all wet until we get home?" He was desperate, looking for any reason with which to talk her out of it.

She smiled as she pulled her tie-dyed T-shirt over her head and then reached behind her back to unhook her training bra. "Who said anything about getting our clothes wet?"

He snapped his head away, feeling himself turning red. "Leslie!"

She laughed. "You can look at me, Jess! There's a few things you still don't know about me."

He turned his head back. By that time, she had stood up and slipped out of her jeans and underwear. She was still a growing preteen like himself, but she was beautiful, as beautiful as the girls and women in some of the paintings at the museum if not more so. In the tight quarters of the Aarons house, he and his parents and sisters couldn't avoid being in different degrees of undress in front each other, but he definitely didn't see Leslie the way he did his sisters.

"Well, first off," she continued, "I mean what I said about loving you, but my getting naked doesn't mean we're gonna start having sex or even getting to second base or anything like that any time soon. Not until we're way older. But in case you haven't noticed, my parents are like latter-day hippies. We're not _nudists_, but the only time we _don't_ sleep naked is when we have company. When you and Miss Edmonds came to get me this morning, I didn't have anything on under my yellow robe." She smiled with a little blush. "You're still the first boy I've ever been naked in front of, not counting my dad and a couple of doctors, but I'm pretty comfortable with the idea, and I was gonna do this sooner or later this Spring or Summer."

She paused thoughtfully. "Besides, if it weren't for you, right now I'd be naked anyway. On a stainless steel table. Getting cut open by some _strange_ doctors and morgue attendants trying to figure out what killed me. I'm not being a tease, but you've earned a look, Jess."

"That's what Eliza Dushku did on _Tru Calling_, by the way," Jesse laughed nervously. "She was a morgue attendant, and every episode a corpse would look at her, say 'Help me!' and the day would go on fast rewind to when she woke up and she had to figure out how to stop the person from dying."

"Oh, I see," she nodded. "Anyway, Jess," she smiled gently and lovingly, "you're my King and I'm your Queen, and you're my best friend and soul mate. If I can't run around naked in front of you, who can I run around naked in front of?" She pecked him on the cheek, but still near his lips.

He smiled but said nothing.

"So," she continued, "you can either stay here while I go across, which I know you _don't_ want to do. Or you can run around the rest of the afternoon with your clothes all wet until we get home. Or you can get naked with me." She stepped toward the water. "I'd really rather you came across with me, clothed _or_ naked, in case something does happen. I'm not _that_ reckless. Not after the rope today. So have you got my back, Jess?"

"I do, and it's a very nice back!" he laughed, still red faced.

She plunged into the creek, disappeared below the surface a second, then stood back up and shook the water out of her hair. "WHOO! This is great!" By the time she turned around, he had stripped down as well. She looked him over with a smile, and then he jumped in beside her. The cold water was definitely a waker-upper. Jesse was wide awake, this was no dream, Leslie was alive, and the two of them had turned Terabithia into Eden.

The water came up to about their armpits. They stood there holding hands and looking up at the sunlight filtering through the broken clouds and forest canopy. A warm, gentle wind blew in their faces, rustling the leaves, and from a distance they could hear the various sets of wind chimes at the Castle, and more closely those at the old pickup-- the same ones he had thrown away in his rage.

"Okay," Leslie said. "We've tempted fate enough for now, and we still have to swim back. Let's go on."

They crossed over with a couple of kicks and strokes, then continued to hold hands after they climbed up on the Terabithia bank. The warm breeze was now cooler on their wet skin. "Now I'm a little chilly," Leslie said, "Good thing we brought the blanket and the towel over to the Castle."

"Well," he replied, "let's walk a little faster."

They tried, but being completely naked hindered their speed, both with the brush on their skin and rough ground on their feet. "We need to start going barefoot more to toughen our feet," she noted, "or carry our sneakers across."

"Well, once that tree falls over, we won't have to swim across," he noted. "It became a bridge. I took the wood from your yard and made planks and rails. Then I even took May Belle across it and crowned her a Princess of Terabithia."

"Aw, that's so sweet, Jess!"

"Dad told me it was a way of keeping you alive," he smiled, then watched her eyes water.

"Are you still going to do that, since I didn't really die?"

"If it's okay with you."

"Of course it's okay!" Leslie said. "It always would have been okay! I love May Belle! She's the closest I've ever come to having a little sister myself."

"Princess May Belle it is," Jesse nodded, then looked into her eyes. "But there will only ever be one _Queen_ of Terabithia."

"Thank you." Leslie smiled back, squeezing his hand, then added, "And that doesn't mean we stop swimming across, just the two of us, every once in a while!"

"Fine with me!"

They reached the Castle. Jesse stood aside and gestured toward the rungs. "You first. That way I can break your fall if you slip."

She looked at him, flattered but also exasperated. "Jess, you can't protect me twenty-four/seven forever!"

"Maybe not, but after what I've been through, I'm sure as heckfire gonna try!"

"I've climbed this tree dozens of times without getting hurt!"

"And you also swung across the rope dozens of times without getting hurt. Leslie, please!" He almost started crying again and she could see it. He cleared his throat and said, "I hereby proclaim as the King of Terabithia that the King's first duty above all others is to protect the life of his Queen at all costs!"

She smiled, her eyes also misting. "Why, thank you, Your Majesty!" She lifted an imaginary skirt and curtseyed, then started up the rungs. As she got high enough for Jesse to start up after her, she laughed, lowered herself a step and then rumpled his hair with her foot. "Admit it, Jess! You're just doing this so you can keep looking up at my tush!"

He laughed and stroked her foot. "Hey! This whole running around naked thing was _your_ idea!"

"But you love it!"

"Yeah! I do!"

They continued upward until Leslie reached the main floor of the Castle and pulled herself in, and Jesse followed. Leslie opened the trunk and found the one towel they'd kept there.

"Hey," she realized, "I'm not that wet anymore. Just my hair."

"Me too. I guess the wind kinda blow-dried us."

She ran the towel quickly over her whole body, then blotted her hair with it and handed it to Jesse. He noted it was still plenty dry enough for him to dry himself thoroughly.

"I'm still a little chillier than I thought I was gonna be," she said, pulling the blanket out of the trunk. She wrapped it around herself and sat down on the floor, drawing her legs back in a fetal position, then opened the blanket and patted the floor next to her through the blanket. "Just because I said no sex and no bad touching doesn't mean we can't snuggle up and cuddle," she smiled.

Jesse sat, put his arm around her waist and pulled his half of the blanket over him. He suddenly felt very tired, drained. Leslie, on the other hand, was high on life, breathing in the breeze, listening to it rustle the leaves and branches all around them, looking around out the different windows of the Castle. Somehow Jesse could tell that she wasn't seeing high, craggy snow-capped peaks with glaciers and waterfalls, only the plain old Virginia farmlands under broken clouds. But now they held the same sense of wonder for her as the illusions she had told him to open his mind to. And through her he was beginning to have the same sense of wonder at the ordinary.

She then pulled him closer to her and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Jess, why do you think things happened the way they did?"

"Because God sent me back in time to save you!"

"I believe that now," she smiled at him. "But I don't think that's the whole answer."

"Oh!" he managed a laugh. "Am I getting a grade on this, Miss Burke? This is the first time I've ever gotten a pop quiz while the teacher and I were bundled up naked in a blanket together!"

She laughed, then became serious again. "I started reading the Gospel a little here and there after Easter. Turns out my folks do have a Bible from somewhere with the rest of their other books, and they were all for my reading it for myself. God makes people dream things when He wants to tell them something. Like when He told the Three Wise Men not to report back to Herod after they visited the Baby Jesus. But most dreams are just short stories, like half hour comedies or one hour dramas. He gave you a whole seven-day miniseries!"

"Well, you're worth a seven day miniseries," he smiled.

"Thanks. But you're the one who went through everything, not me! I just walked home in the rain with you last night, had dinner with Mom and Dad, took a shower, read the Bible a little more and went to sleep. Then I dreamed about you and me entering Prince Terrian in a dog show and winning a prize, then I woke up this morning to you hugging me out of nowhere, and then saving my life a few hours later."

"Maybe I had to be shown a few more things than the average Wise Man! Like Bill Murray in the movie. I guess God gave me a long to-do list!"

"That's a good answer."

"Do I get an A, Miss Burke?"

"There are good answers and bad answers, Jess. Not right or wrong answers."

"I guess there's a difference."

"What I'm trying to figure out is why I'm the one whose life was saved and _I_ didn't go through _Groundhog Day_ or that TV show. You went through the same stuff that Bill Murray and Eliza Doolittle or whatever her name is went through. The only character I can compare myself to is Emily in _Our Town_.

"I've heard of it, but what's the story about?"

"It's a stage play. Set in a small town called Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, which is kinda like Lark Creek except it's not as spread out. Two of the main characters are Emily and George. They start out as kids living next door to each other," she smiled at him and squeezed his hand, "grow up and get married. Then at the beginning of the last act, Emily dies giving birth, but her spirit gets to re-live one day of her life. She picks her twelfth birthday, and by the time it's over she realizes how much of life she took for granted until it was too late, and how everyone does that."

"That's a lousy ending!" Jesse shook his head. "Just like _my_ life until I saw you this morning."

She smiled and her eyebrows raised. "But Jess, I think that's the answer for both of us! It's as simple as that!" She kissed him, squeezed him tight, then threw off her half of the blanket and went to the doorway. She let it frame her beautiful form, raising her hands to the top corners of the frame.

"Hey, God!" she screamed joyfully. "I love you and I love your beautiful world! And I love the beautiful life you gave me and then spared today! And I love the wonderful person Jesse Oliver Aarons whom you've given me as my soul-mate and companion! And my rescuer! Thank you for everything!!!"

As if in response, the breeze picked up and rustled the leaves louder. Leslie breathed in the fresh air, breathed in several breaths, enjoying the air flowing all over her body. Then she yelled out again: "Hey, Dark Master! I'm still alive! We've beaten you! King Jesse and Queen Leslie rule Terabithia!"

And then the wind picked up some more and there was a long loud crackling of thunder! It came from the direction of the stream. Leslie squealed, then jumped back in the blanket with Jesse.

"What was that?" they asked each other simultaneously.

The wind calmed quickly. "I didn't see any lightning, did you?" Leslie asked.

Jesse shook his head. "It didn't even get darker or anything."

"But it was really loud!"

Jesse stepped out of the blanket. "We'd better check it out and be ready to get out of here." He waited before adding, "It's gonna be dark soon anyway. And we _still_ rule Terabithia!" Leslie giggled at that.

He picked up the towel and tied it around his waist. "You should take the blanket and wear it. A noise that loud might have sent everybody running this way, you don't know who we're gonna run into." He paused, then added, "Your folks may be latter-day hippies, but my dad was a Marine sergeant before he met Momma."

Leslie looked around the inside of the Castle. She found a bungee cord, folded and draped the blanket around her in a way that made it actually resemble a queen's robe, and used the bungee cord as a belt so the blanket would stay on without her having to hold it.

"I'll go first," Jesse said as he stepped backwards down the rungs.

"So you can break my fall," Leslie smiled affectionately.

They held hands again as they started down toward the creek. After they had passed the old pickup, and the old crossover point where the rope had been came into view, it became obvious what the thunderlike noise had been: the old tree had fallen across a few feet upstream, just the way Jesse remembered it. He stared at it without expression, while Leslie looked at it with a sense of awe, her mouth hanging open. The rope breaking had been enough to convince her all along that Jesse's foreknowledge was more than a lucky guess or coincidence, but this sealed it for her.

"Well, we were here to hear it, so it did make a sound!" she laughed nervously. "This time around." She looked at the rough bark and splintery branch stumps on the tree trunk, then across and down the stream at the rope, still half in the water and snaking and swirling below the rock, which was barely visible through the underbrush only because she knew it was there. "Jess, there's no way I'm gonna try to walk across this thing barefoot!"

"Good answer!" he sighed with relief. "It won't be safe until I put in some planking. The first time I went across, before I did, May Belle followed me and almost fell in... or will almost fall in... or would have almost fallen in... or something like that!"

"I guess we wade back the way we came. I'll leave the blanket in the pickup and we'll take the towel across, you hold it up out of the water."

They backtracked to the pickup, where Leslie untied the bungee cord, slipped off the blanket and stashed them under the dashboard. They looked and listened to make sure there was no sign of any outsiders, then stepped toward the point where they had crossed the creek. Jesse unknotted the towel, rolled it up and held it high above his head as the two of them stepped, much more slowly and gently than on the way over, into the creek, with Leslie taking care to keep her head out of the water and her hair dry. The water was again bracingly cool and awakening. When they got across to where they had left their clothes, he let her dry off with the towel first.

After they were finished dressing, they started upstream for home, still holding hands. When they passed the point where the rope had been, she led him the couple of steps toward the bank. "Just a second, Jess."

She reached down and picked up the end of the rope with the two knots, then started pulling it in and coiling it up.

"Do you really want that thing?" Jesse asked with a slight grimace.

"Two reasons. One, you said your dad was a Marine. Did he ever take the gun off of someone who tried to kill him? Like a trophy?"

"Dad was never in a war. He was too young for Vietnam, was only in for a few years, got out long before the First Gulf War."

"Oh," Leslie nodded, then smiled. "Anyway, the second reason's more important." She wrapped the wet, frayed end of the rope around the rest of the coil and then held the whole thing up. "I want this as a reminder of what I'll owe you forever!" She gave him another tight hug and a kiss, and they both sniffled as they held each other.

They started out of the woods, continuing to hold hands. As they started walking along the fence of the cow pasture, Leslie saw that Jesse was still blinking very mistily. "Jess, what's wrong _now_?"

"Leslie, I still can't believe this is real! I woke up this morning thinking you'd been dead for a week and burned to ashes, then you come back to me and we spend the whole day together, reliving the day you were supposed to have died, and I stop you from dying. Then we say 'I love you' to each other and kiss for the first time. Then we actually swim and run around Terabithia naked together! It's too wonderful an experience! Either _this_ is a dream, or I've died, too, and joined you in Heaven!"

"It's just as wonderful for me too, Jess! But I know _I'm_ not dead!" She let go of his hand. "Hey, Jess?"

"Yes, Leslie?"

"If this is a dream or we're both dead and in Heaven," she grinned, "would _this_ hurt?" She slapped him firmly on the butt, and as she did so, she realized that she'd stolen that line from one of the marathon of movies they'd seen in school last month. Probably the Disney movie about the mad scientist who accidentally used his shrinking machine on his own kids.

"Oww! Hey, watch it! That's what I landed on when the rope broke!"

"I rest my case!" she laughed.

"Leslie, that play _Our Town_. That girl Emma's still dead at the end, right?"

"Emily," she corrected him. "Depends on what version. She _is_ in the original stage version. Hollywood gave it a happier ending though. Grandma Burke has this VHS tape of an old movie version that I watched with her once. I think it was William Holden who played George and Martha somebody who played Emily. The same playwright Thornton Wilder also wrote the screenplay, and kept it the same as the original except that at the end, Emily wakes up in the hospital after giving birth, and the whole dying and then reliving one more day thing was just a dream."

"So which version do _you_ like better?"

She smiled at him. "Well, Jess, up until a couple of hours ago, I thought Thornton Wilder sold out to Hollywood. Now that I've looked death in the face, I think there wasn't any point in the stage version for Emily to learn what she did after it was too late for her."

"Good answer," he nodded. "But what if today was like the deal with Emily in the stage version? What if the reason I'm here with you is because you're living one more day over."

Leslie grimaced. "That's creeping me out! Even more than talking about Grandma and Miss Edmonds and Mrs. Myers and your folks all being at my wake, and my desk being removed! Jesse, do _not_ talk like that! Please!"

"I'm sorry! I'm scared, Leslie! What if I wake up tomorrow and you're really still dead and today wasn't really real? I don't want today to end. I don't want to let you out of my sight!"

Leslie sighed. "Jesse, I think if I was dead and a ghost, I'd know it. Emily knew she was dead and why she was reliving one day, and I think I would too." She paused. "If anything, maybe it _is_ Groundhog Day and you're gonna wake up every morning for the next few months with Miss Edmonds inviting you to the museum!"

"As long as we bring you along and you don't go to the rope by yourself every time, that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world!"

"Tell you what, Jess! Why don't you have dinner and spend the night with me and my folks? You can stay in the guest bedroom and I _promise_ you I'll be the first person you'll see in the morning!"

"You sure your folks won't mind?"

"Mom and Dad love you!" She hefted the coiled rope in her hand. "And they're gonna love you even more after I tell them what happened with you and me at the creek today."

Jesse looked at her with uncertainty.

"I don't mean the swimming and running around naked part!" she laughed.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**This is the chapter where I step onto thin ice. No matter how tastefully I handle the way Leslie decides to swim across the creek and run around in Terebithia after her brush with death, and how much I minimize it, there are going to be some readers who are going to want to lynch me as a Dirty Old Man! However, not only can't you say I didn't warn you in the preface, but as I said, if a preteen boy and girl innocently swimming naked together is child porn, then Henry Bellamann wrote child porn that became a national bestseller and Ronald Reagan starred in the movie version of it (albeit neither Ronnie nor the actor who played his character as a preteen were involved in those scenes!).**

**I will even go so far as to maintain that given the circumstances of Leslie's parents being implied in the movie to be New Age latter-day hippies (and actual ex-hippies in the book!), her budding feelings for Jess, and the fact that in this fanfic Jesse has just saved her life, I think what she does is well within character. And she's both innocent and smart enough to know that she and Jesse have years to go before they even think seriously about sex. Anyone disagree? If enough people do, I _may_ consider rewriting this chapter. I'm not afraid of feedback as long as it doesn't include nooses and death threats! I'm _asking_ for feedback!**

**Thanks for the reviews so far. Keep 'em coming!**


	5. Chapter 5

GROUNDHOGS AT TERABITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

* * *

CHAPTER 5

"Hi, Jesse!" Mrs. Burke smiled at him as he followed Leslie into the kitchen. "Would you like to stay for dinner? Nothing fancy, just ravioli and salad."

"See, I told you so!" Leslie smiled at him, then turned back to her mother. "As a matter of fact, Mom, I already invited him!" She waited before adding, "Is it all right if he stays over in the guest room tonight? He and I are working on something and it's probably going to take all night."

Mrs. Burke paused a moment with a smile. "Sure," she nodded. "The bed's not made, but I'll lay everything out for you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Burke," Jesse smiled back.

"We'll be back in a few," Leslie said. "I promised Jess I'd help him with his chores." She smiled, then threw her arms around her mother and nestled her head in her bosom. "Thank you, Mommy!"

"What's this for?" she laughed lightly as she kissed Leslie. "It's not like Jesse doesn't live right across the driveway!"

"It's because I never say 'I love you' enough!"

And Judy Burke smiled in amazement and puzzlement as her daughter and her daughter's best friend left the house and headed next door.

* * *

There was the typical pre-dinnertime bickering in the Aarons' kitchen between Jesse's two oldest sisters, compounded by his mother's unsuccessful attempts to calm one of Joyce Ann's fits. His father sat straining to hear the sound of the TV news, his sour face making it obvious that the effort was in vain. To Jesse, the cacophony was as sweet as one of Miss Edmonds' guitar solos compared to the literally funereal silence the _other_ time he came in during the late afternoon of Thursday, April 16th. Of course, the very reason for that funereal silence was now holding hands with him and following him through the door.

"Hi, Leslie!" his mother shouted over Joyce Ann's whining. "You staying for supper?"

"No, thanks, Mrs. Aarons. As a matter of fact, Jesse's having supper with us and staying over tonight. My folks say it's okay."

"Not 'til you've finished all your chores!" Jack Aarons snarled at his only son. There was no sign of the Compassionate Daddy in whose arms Jesse had cried only a few days before-- at least in Jesse's own memory. The former Marine sergeant, the father over whom Jesse took so much crap because his classmates teased him over the elder Aarons' resemblance to the Bad Terminator in the second _Terminator_ movie (even though Jesse had to secretly admit they were right!) was back!

"All done, Dad!" Jesse replied with just a trace of a smirk. "Trash and recycling are at the curb, the plants in the greenhouse are watered and fed, all the ripe fruits and veggies are picked." He had to console himself with the knowledge that Compassionate Daddy would probably be there if, God forbid, he should ever need him again. And that Compassionate Daddy's absence was a small price to pay for having Leslie alive and in his life. _"But hey!"_ Miss Edmonds had just told him and Leslie a few hours ago, _"When you've found your soul mate, making sacrifices for each other is part of the relationship."_ "Leslie helped," he added.

His father stood with a slight smile and a softness in his eyes. "Why, thank you, Leslie," he said as he stepped over and stroked her neck and shoulder.

"You're welcome, Mr. Aarons," Leslie smiled back.

Jesse wondered if the memory of her death had somehow carried over to his father as well. _No, _he decided. _I'm just finally seeing what's been there all along!_

* * *

"I've just gotta pick up my toothbrush," he told Leslie as they passed the bathroom on the way to his and May Belle's room.

"Hey! I'm in here!" May Belle shouted from behind the locked door as he turned the knob.

He led Leslie back behind the curtain to his part of the bedroom, and she sat on his bed and waited the few seconds for him to pick up a change of clothing and bundle it up; he should have taken his backpack back with him from the Burkes', but had forgotten it in the rush to get the chores out of the way. As he finished bundling up his clothes, he heard May Belle come out of the bathroom and into her half of the room.

"May Belle!" he shouted as he threw aside the curtain, making his sister jump. He picked her up, whirled her around once and then kissed her forehead as he let her down. "How're ya doin', Princess?"

"Princess?" she squinted at him. "All right, who are you and what have you done with my real brother?"

Jesse and Leslie both laughed. "You _are_ a princess, May Belle!" he said. "Since you're my little sister, that makes you the Princess of the magical kingdom where Leslie's the Queen and I'm the King!"

"Oh, _that_ kind of Princess!" May Belle rolled her eyes. "The kind that gets to sweep the floor and shovel cinders out of the fireplace!"

"No, May Belle," Leslie said. "The place where Jesse and I go every day. That's our Kingdom, and we've decided to let you join us out there. As a full-fledged Princess. Tiara and everything!"

"When?" May Belle's eyes lit up.

"In a few days, May Belle," Jesse said. "It's not quite safe to go there yet, but it will be soon!"

"I knew it!" May Belle sighed.

"May Belle!" Leslie said. "I know you don't believe Jesse all the time, but you believe _me_, don't you?"

"Yeah..."

"It's true." Leslie nodded. "It's true we're going to take you there, but it's also true that it's not safe yet."

"Why not?"

Jesse sat next to Leslie on the bed and then motioned for May Belle to sit on his other side. After she did, he said, "Once upon a time, a King and Queen went walking through the woods and found a creek. And the land across the creek was magical and beautiful, so they decided to claim it as their kingdom. And the Queen named it Terabithia. And the only way they knew how to cross the creek and get into Terabithia was on this bridge made of rope. And so the King and the Queen built their castle and fought all kinds of monsters in Terabithia. Now, the King also had a little sister who was a Princess. And the Queen wanted the King to let the Princess join them in Terabithia, but the King just thought of the Princess as his pain-in-the-butt little sister--"

"Hey!" May Belle glared.

"_Thought_ of her as his pain-in-the-butt little sister, past tense!" Jesse reemphasized. "So even though the _Queen_ wanted to share the Kingdom with the Princess, the King didn't want to share with his own sister!

"And then one day, the Queen was crossing the rope bridge when it broke, and she fell in the creek and hit her head and drowned. And the King was heartbroken because he loved his Queen so much!"

May Belle squinted at him and then at Leslie. "I thought Leslie was the Queen!"

"Shhh!" Jesse said, placing his finger to her lips. "The King was heartbroken and he missed his Queen, and he felt lost without her. And he thought that maybe God had punished him for being so selfish and mean to the Princess, by taking his Queen away from him. And he roamed around the creek, crying, mourning and feeling lost without his Queen."

"When did this happen?" May Belle asked, then noticed the eyes watering on both her brother and Leslie, and knew she had to shut up. Leslie rested her head on Jesse's shoulder and started to weep.

"Then the King found another bridge," Jesse continued, "made of wood, across the creek into Terabithia, and he went back, trying to rebuild the castle and his life. And the Princess wanted to go across the bridge too, to console her brother and keep him company."

"That's what I would have done!" May Belle said.

"You did, May Belle! You did!"

"When?" she squinted at him.

"Let me finish. The Princess started across the bridge but it started to get shaky. So the King had to run and get the Princess off the bridge, and he realized that he didn't want to lose the Princess like he lost his Queen."

"And then what happened?"

"Something magical happened! We don't know if it was God, or if it was the magic of Terabithia itself, or some magic that the Queen had left behind in Terabithia before she drowned, or if they're all the same thing. This morning, the Princess woke up the King, and after he got up, there was the Queen right by him, as if she'd never left him!"

"The Queen came back from the dead? Like Jesus?"

"Not exactly, but to the King she did. The Queen didn't remember falling into the creek and drowning. The Princess didn't remember either. Nobody remembered except the King. And then the King figured out that the magic had sent him backwards in time to the day that the rope bridge broke and the Queen drowned. And that the Queen was going to try to cross the bridge. And so he rushed over to the rope bridge and broke it himself so that the Queen couldn't try to cross. And the King was so happy to have his Queen back safe and sound that he decided never to be mean to the Princess again. But now that wooden bridge is the only way into Terabithia unless you swim across the creek. And the King knows that the wooden bridge won't be safe either, until he fixes it, so that both the Queen and the Princess will be safe when they cross it."

"Wow!" May Belle breathed. She looked at the tears streaming down the cheeks of both Jesse and Leslie, and said, "Hey! This is for real, isn't it!"

Leslie blotted her eyes on Jesse's shirt. "Yes, May Belle, it is!"

"Hey, Leslie?"

"Yes, May Belle?"

"The heck with my real brother!" she laughed. "I want you to keep _this_ guy!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**For those of you who have read the book but not seen the movie (or vice versa) Jesse's dad's name in the book is Jesse Aarons, Sr, while in the movie it's Jack Aarons. His back story of being a former Marine and the reason for Jesse's getting teased about him in this fanfic are not canon for either the book or the movie, but are a reference to the filmography of actor Robert Patrick. ;-)**

**Thanks for the reviews so far. Keep 'em coming!**

**I've been posting a new chapter each night, and the first draft of the story is finished. I have to make an editorial decision as to whether to present the remainder of the story as one chapter or two, but in any case, I may be away from my computer over the weekend (March 23-25, 2007) and unable to post the next (and possibly final) chapter until the night of Sunday March 25. Please be patient and stay tuned.**


	6. Chapter 6

GROUNDHOGS AT TERABITHIA

or

KING OF TERABITHIA'S ROW

by

Mad Tom

* * *

CHAPTER 6

Dinner conversation at the Burkes' included no mention of Leslie and Jesse's activities in the woods, and focused on the new exhibits at the National Gallery, as well as on all the compliments Miss Edmonds had heaped on both youngsters over tea that afternoon; her compliments were more generous in their absence than those she'd given them directly on the drive home from the museum. Leslie waited until they were almost done dessert before saying, "Mom, Dad, something happened out in the woods this afternoon that I've gotta tell you about. Something really strange."

"You're suddenly sounding a lot more serious, Sweetheart," her father mused.

"It _is_ serious, Dad. I almost died."

Both her parents gasped. "What happened?" Mrs. Burke asked.

"Be right back," Leslie said, getting up. Jesse said nothing in response to the Burkes' inquiring glances at him as she went through the kitchen into the utility room where she'd left the coil of rope when they'd first returned, and brought it back. She undid the frayed end she had wrapped around the rest of the coil and held it up.

"This is-- was the rope that Jess and I used to swing on to get across the creek to our tree house. It broke today."

"Leslie," her mother gasped, "you weren't hurt, were you?"

"I'm fine, Mom. Jesse's tush is probably gonna be a little sore for a few days, though. He's the one who was on the rope when it broke."

"Just your tush, Jesse?" Mrs. Burke was clearly concerned.

"I'll be fine, Mrs. Burke!" he reassured her. "A small price to pay for Leslie!"

"But there's more, Mom and Dad," Leslie continued. "Jess knew the rope was going to break. He saved my life!..."

* * *

"That's quite a story, Sweetheart," Mr. Burke smiled, both he and Mrs. Burke greatly relieved.

They'd moved to the living room at Mrs. Burke's suggestion shortly after Leslie started her recounting of the events, and now the two couples faced one another on the couches, the coil of rope on the coffee table between them. Leslie had done nearly all of the talking.

"Thank you, Jesse!" Mrs. Burke said, her eyes moist, and breathing a little anxiously, then turned to Leslie. "Someone was definitely looking out for you, Sweetheart."

"Yes, Mom. I know. Jess and that Other Someone!" Leslie held Jesse's hand and squeezed it tight.

"You know, Leslie, Jess," her father said, "I majored in psychology in school and worked in psychology research before I met Leslie's mom. Our writing careers came later. Most people in the field believe that a 'Sixth Sense' is actually just the other five senses coming together and subconsciously putting it all in a way that makes sense to the consciousness. My guess is that you caught a glimpse of that rock sometime earlier without realizing it, then while you were swinging along on the rope, you felt it starting to give-- again without realizing it-- and then when you went to sleep last night your subconscious put it together in a dream and told you the rope was going to break." He smiled. "We owe you our Leslie's life no less for that. If anything, we owe you even more."

"It wasn't a dream, Mr. Burke," Jesse shook his head.

"Daddy, he knows stuff that he couldn't possibly know just from his subconscious!" Leslie said, disappointed at her father's smug skepticism. She smiled. "He knew I told you once that I love him and that he's the only real friend I've ever had!"

"Well, Leslie, honey, that's hardly the best kept secret in the world!" her father laughed. "Both of you have rather vivid imaginations, that's why you're so close and share so much. And that's why your dream was so vivid and detailed, Jesse."

"He knew that a tree was going to fall down by the creek, and we were there when it did!"

"Leslie," her father replied, "I believe that you believe that, but..."

"Mom, Dad, we've never talked about this before," Leslie looked at both of them, "but if I were to die right now, would you put me in a coffin, or would you have me cremated?" She raised her hand. "Don't answer that out loud! You know what the answer is, and you know that both Jesse and I know what the answer is!"

"Well, Sweetheart," her mother replied, "your dad and I never actually gave it any thought until today, but we do both plan on being cremated ourselves whenever our times come. And I suppose that if, God forbid, we should ever have to make that decision..."

"You did, Mrs. Burke," Jesse looked at her, his eyes watering. "You did make that decision. And I was in this room grieving with you when you announced it to everyone. You had a couple of snapshots and school portraits of Leslie in frames on that table over there, with a memorial album that my parents and I signed."

"Vivid imagination. Details," Mr. Burke nodded.

Jesse had been quiet and passive most of the evening, letting Leslie do most of the talking, but now he was getting a little mad at Mr. Burke's now patronizing tone. He got up and stepped over to the vestibule where his backpack was, then opened it. He pulled out a sketchbook and his set of pastel crayons. "Mr. Burke, I've never met Leslie's grandma-- your mom-- ever, have I?"

"You know you haven't!"

"And you don't have any pictures of her out here in the living room or any other part of the house I've been in, right?" He returned to the couch beside Leslie and set the sketchbook and pastels in the coffee table.

Leslie's parents looked at each other and both shrugged. "I guess not," Mrs. Burke replied.

"But I remember meeting her!" Jesse said. "At your front door. What I remember as six days ago, what to you would be tomorrow afternoon!" He opened the sketchbook to a blank page and started drawing. "I'll draw you a picture of her!"

"Ohhhhkay!" Mr. Burke smiled skeptically. "Only, Leslie, you can't help him!"

"I wasn't going to!" Leslie snapped, incensed.

He gestured toward an armchair in a corner. "Leslie, please sit over there in that chair. Jesse, please turn your back so you can't see her. Even subtle visual cues can help! Even if neither of you are aware you're exchanging them!"

"I'll do better than that!" Leslie sighed. "I'm going to my room. Jesse doesn't need my help, conscious or subconscious!" She pecked Jesse on the cheek, squeezed his hand and then stalked off down the hallway. "You'll show 'em, Jess!"

Jesse continued to draw, holding the sketchbook on his lap. It was the least cartoonish or caricaturish portrait he had ever done in his life so far. The details of Grandma Burke's face and what she was wearing were burned into his memory, and he meant to convey every single detail to Leslie's parents.

When he was nearly finished, Leslie reemerged from the hall, now barefoot and wearing her yellow robe, open at the front, over a pale pink floral-embroidered nightshirt. "Remember what I said about having company over!" she said softly to him with a wink.

Her father motioned for her to sit with him and her mother on their side of the coffee table and she did so, on her mother's other side.

"Done!" Jesse said after a couple of more minutes. He kept the sketchbook open as he handed it over to Mr. Burke. Leslie caught enough of a glimpse of it to see that it was every bit as good as she was expecting.

Her father took the sketchbook, and his skeptical, patronizing smirk immediately gave way to a shaken, palefaced gasp. It was probably as good a pastel-crayon sketch as any fifth grader could do as a likeness of his own mother.

"You know, Leslie has always taken after my mom," he said, but his voice quavered. He turned to his daughter. "It wouldn't take too much imagination to picture you as an older woman with white hair..."

"Daddy, now you're grasping at straws! You know Jesse's been telling you the truth all along!"

"Judy, are you sure we've never had pictures of my mom on the wall out here sometime?"

"You know we haven't, Bill!" Mrs. Burke shook her head. "Just in your den, and you keep that locked most of the time! Even if Jesse's been in there, I doubt if he'd know for sure who she was." She tilted the sketchbook toward her. "Let me see... Oh, my God!" She became as pale and shaken as her husband. "Bill, look at her dress!"

Mr. Burke looked at the sketch again and his face got even whiter, if that was possible.

Leslie looked over her mother's shoulder and squinted at the sketch. "What about the dress? I've never seen Grandma wear a dress like that one!"

"You couldn't have!" her mother replied. She wrapped both her arms around Leslie's waist and pulled her close, very protectively. "Daddy and I got that dress for her, when we buried your grandpa four years before you were born, and the last time she wore it was at your Great-Aunt Patty's funeral when I was pregnant with you. She calls it her 'Funerals Only' dress!"

* * *

The two of them spent most of the rest of the evening playing with Prince Terrian in Leslie's room, while Leslie's parents retired to the den where Leslie and Jesse could hear very muted and serious-sounding conversation. As it got later, Leslie took PT to his bed in the utility room, and then she and Jesse went to the guest bedroom next to hers, where she helped him make the bed. Over the course of setting up, Leslie took Jesse's sketchbook, opened it to the drawing of Grandma Burke, and propped it up on the bedside table against the lamp.

Both were obviously reluctant to call it a night.

"I have an idea!" Leslie brightened. "Be right back!"

She stepped back in her room for a few seconds and returned with a copy of Thornton Wilder's _Our Town_. She sat on the bed beside him. "Let's read Act Three together!"

Jesse looked at her but pursed his lips.

"Bad answer?" she winced.

"Bad answer! Leslie, you know I'm still scared that _that_--" he indicated the book-- "is what's really going on, why we're realy back together today."

"And I know it's not, Jess!"

He took the book and set it on the bedside table next to the sketchbook. "Tell you what. If you're still here in the morning and this whole day wasn't a dream, we'll spend the whole day tomorrow reading it. But right now, I don't even want to think about it! Okay?"

"It's a deal, silly!"

The Burkes appeared in the open doorway and rapped on the frame. Jesse and Leslie both stood up.

"Leslie, Dad and I are going to turn in now. Jess, do you need anything else?"

"No, thanks, Mrs. Burke."

"You'll still be here for breakfast in the morning, right?"

"I sure hope so!" Jesse nodded, looking over to Leslie.

"Oh, and Leslie," her father said, "Mom and I are going to need your help Sunday morning."

"My help? With what?"

"We need you to show us how to get to the church Jess and his family go to," he smiled.

"We're joining?" Leslie's eyebrows raised.

"Maybe not, but you're free to keep going with the Aarons as often as you want. For now, Mom and I decided to say thank you!"

"Daddy, if God's really watching over me, we don't have to go to church for Him to hear us."

"Yes, but the gesture's important. And speaking of saying thank you..." Mr. Burke stepped over and gave Jesse a hug. It was almost exactly like the hug Jesse remembered from the "first time around", at the wake when Mr. Burke had told him that Leslie had loved him. "Jesse, thank you for saving our Leslie's life. And I owe you a big apology!"

"It just happened, Mr. Burke. I don't know how, but it just happened. I couldn't have done anything different, knowing what I knew this time around. And I'm as happy as you are that it happened."

Mrs. Burke stepped in and hugged him as well. "Nevertheless, thank you for saving my baby. I don't even want to imagine how devastated we would be if we ever lost her." She kissed him on the cheek as Leslie watched and smiled with misty eyes.

"I hope _you_ never find out," Jesse smiled back, tears in his voice, "because I _do_ know. Believe me, I do!"

"We believe you," Mr. Burke nodded, glancing over at Jesse's drawing of Grandma Burke. He and his wife put their arms around each other, and then they both pulled their daughter between them. Leslie buried her face in the crevice between their bodies, then kissed both of them.

"I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy."

"We love you, too, Sweetheart," Mrs. Burke said.

After they separated, Mr. Burke smiled and said, "You guys be sure not to stay up too late! I know it's been a weird day and you're both wired, and it's still Spring Break, but you still need a good night's sleep. Good night."

Leslie's parents stepped out of the room as Jesse sat back down on the bed. "I guess that's their way of telling us to call it a night," he said apprehensively. He was still afraid of letting her out of his sight and letting the day end, and it showed.

"It is," she nodded. He lay down and pulled up the covers, but Leslie just stood there. She waited until they heard the door of her parents' bedroom close, then she smiled. She waited quietly several more seconds. "Okay, now slide over!" she whispered.

"What?"

She stepped over and sat on the bed next to him. "You heard me! Move over!" She lay down on top of the covers and started sliding up close to him.

"Leslie, your parents will kill us!" he whispered.

"No, they wont!" she giggled while continuing to whisper. "First off, I plan on both of us waking up before _they_ do. Second, even if they do find us, they trust me and they know I know I'm too young to even think about having sex or anything like that. And my folks both just hugged you and my mom just kissed you. They love you, and they just came within a hair's breadth of losing me forever, so they're not going to kill either of us." She pointed to the drawing of Grandma Burke and smiled. "That's a Get Out of Jail Free Card for both of us!"

"You sure?" he asked

"Sure I'm sure. We'll be okay as long as I keep my shirt on and stay on top of the covers. If they find us, I can say you fell asleep first and I was too tired to go to back to my own room, so you'll be completely off the hook." She paused and smiled. "Jess, I think I _have_ to do this!"

"_Have_ to?"

"If this is _Groundhog Day_, then for you move on to tomorrow with me still here, you and I have to wake up together, without having had sex and with our clothes on but in the same bed, like Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell!"

"Hey! I like that theory!" He slid over to make room, but kept her close. "You gonna be warm enough without the covers?"

"I usually sleep naked, remember?" she nodded. "I'll be fine with this shirt and robe on. But I guess I should keep my feet warm." She lifted the edge of the covers with her toes, slid her feet under them and put them against his. He smiled as he draped one arm over her waist. She did the same to him.

"And Jesse, even if it isn't like _Groundhog Day_, and if I was like Emily from _Our Town_, and I was given just one more day in this life, I want you to know that this is just how I'd want that day to end." She saw him frown. "But it's not like _Our Town_! I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm alive because of you. And I'll be here when you wake up. I promise!" She smiled. "Have I ever broken a promise to you?"

"No. You never have, Leslie."

"Every day of my life from now on, I owe to you and to the God who sent you back in time to this morning, so I'm not going to waste a second of your gift and His. Thank you, Jesse. I love you."

"I love you too, Leslie."

They kissed and then she closed her eyes. He pulled up close to her and buried his face in her hair. The scents of the shampoo and conditioner from when he first hugged her that morning had faded, and were now mixed with those of her own sweat, the water of the creek and the woods of Terabithia. Jesse closed his eyes, and fell asleep smelling those scents, feeling the warmth of her feet touching his, and feeling and listening to the steady rhythms of Leslie's breathing and heartbeat.

THE END

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I pretty much took the characters as Katherine and David Paterson created them, set up the situation my way, and the story pretty much wrote itself! **

**This is the last chapter of the main body of the story, but I'm not calling it Complete yet and reserve the right to add a more expended Afterword later on, depending on the feedback I get.**

**If you thought this story was too light and fluffy, you might want to check out my much darker one-shot scenario _Last Battle of Terabithia_. It's not a sequel to this but an alternate followup. But I have a feeling most people will want to come back here and reread _this_ whole story as an antidote afterward!**

**Thanks for the reviews. Keep 'em coming!**


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